


the status quo

by kaihun



Series: and they were roommates [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Best Friends, Friendship/Love, Grocery Shopping, Jealousy, M/M, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Pining, spoiler alert the pining is mutual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29472429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaihun/pseuds/kaihun
Summary: When Sehun and Jongin go grocery shopping they get mistaken for being a couple, and it hits a little too close to home.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai & Oh Sehun, Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun
Series: and they were roommates [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2173758
Comments: 6
Kudos: 77
Collections: EXO Bakery - 2021





	the status quo

**Author's Note:**

> Written for EXO Bakery 2021, Ticket #270

🗒

"Er, Jongin, I think we're past due for a grocery run," Sehun announces as soon as he opens the fridge. He had just gotten back from work and was looking for something, anything to eat, but all that's left is the kale and arugula salad he and Jongin both forgot about now rotting in the plastic container, miso paste, and their tub of store-bought kimchi. There's essentially no protein in sight. 

He and Jongin had stayed roommates all throughout college, and after they graduated and got hired in the same city, it only made sense to rent an apartment together as the next step. Jongin is seriously wonderful to live with. Sehun heard about how it isn't advisable to live with your closest friends, since it usually leads to tension that can ruin the entire friendship, but amazingly, he and Jongin have only gotten even closer. And even though they've lived together for so long and know pretty much everything about each other, their friendship has never gotten stale.

"True," Jongin calls out from the sofa where he's relaxing in his favorite pair of pajamas. It looks like he's in the middle of binge-watching the new horror series Netflix recommended to him the other day. "Wanna go tomorrow?"

"Sure," Sehun agrees. Jongin probably didn't suggest tonight because it's raining outside right now, and no one likes going out for groceries when it's all wet and nasty outside. Plus tomorrow is Saturday, they're both off from work. They usually go on their grocery runs on the weekends.

"I haven't eaten yet either though," Jongin says. "I was waiting for you to get back to order something. Pizza night?"

"Oh man, pizza sounds perfect right now."

"Cool, I'll make the order."

After work Sehun always feels dirty and gross so he goes to take a quick shower while Jongin orders. By the time he's done and walks back out to the living room, Jongin has just finished paying at the door.

"Holy shit, that was fast," Sehun comments as he plops down on the sofa, excited to start eating. The pizza smells so damn good. "What do I owe you?"

"It's cool, I got it," Jongin says. "It's pay day, I'm rich for once."

"Are you saying I'm poor?" Sehun laughs. 

"Seriously, it's fine, you treated me last time so it's only fair."

"If you say so..." Sehun says hesitantly, his thumb still hovering over the Venmo app he was about to open to send Jongin some money.

Jongin can apparently read his mind because he says, "do not Venmo me, dude."

So he doesn't, but he'll make sure to make it up to Jongin another time.

When he opens the pizza box, it's his perfect pizza order: alfredo sauce instead of the usual tomato paste, extra sausage, spinach, olives, and jalapenos for that extra kick. 

"You know my order," Sehun says, genuinely ready to tear up from how incredibly touched he is, and also he's starving so the pizza looks like actual heaven to him at the moment.

Jongin's face gets super red for some reason, and all he does is mumble, "Y-yeah... that's not weird, right, I mean, we have ordered pizza a lot together so..."

If Sehun wasn't busy stuffing his face at the moment he'd probably be thinking more about his best friend's reaction. Why in the world is he making it weird when it really isn't, it's just thoughtful, right? None of his ex's ever got his order right. Jongin must have photographic memory or something. But since he can't talk with his mouth full, all he does is smile back at Jongin to show his appreciation.

🗒

  
The next afternoon they make the trip to H Mart, which got annoyingly pricier over the years no thanks to capitalism. Still, it remains the most convenient for them to go to in terms of location and snack choices, which is pretty extensive. They still go to the smaller groceries around town when their cravings for the more niche snacks reach high intensity levels, but for the most part the superchain has become their one-stop shop for what they need on a daily basis.

Both Sehun and Jongin are far from chef status, but as single men approaching their late 20s, they've both matured enough to realize they can't survive on cereal alone or order take-out forever. Through a series of disasters they like to call learning experiences, they've both learned to cook a couple of dishes that are at least somewhat palatable.

Within the past month though, Jongin really expanded his cooking repertoire after one of his older sisters gifted him an air fryer for his birthday. Neither he nor Sehun knew anything about air fryers, but Jongin watched multiple videos on YouTube-- there was no way he was going to let his precious sister's gift go to waste. Sehun was pretty impressed by his level of dedication. Hell, he'd d even go so far as to say it was attractive as fuck.

Okay, so it isn't exactly a new revelation that he's had the biggest crush ever on Jongin ever since they first met as freshmen back in college, and it's only gotten worse now that they're living together in the real world. He's well-aware he's a walking romcom cliche. His other best friend Baekhyun, the only one who Sehun has confided in about his crush, has cracked way beyond his fair share of 'and they were roommates' jokes - Sehun is sick of it.

Maybe it would be funnier if he thought he actually stood a chance, but Jongin is straighter than a pencil. Baekhyun is convinced he isn't, citing that spaghetti is straight until you boil it in water, but as far as Sehun is concerned, his gaydar is not to be trusted. Jongin has only ever dated women in the time they've known each other, and he's never once indicated any sort of attraction to men. Outside of the comfortable-in-my-masculinity flirting that Jongin has mastered, but that's beside the point.

At the supermarket, Sehun takes charge of pushing the cart while Jongin busies himself looking for what they need off their shopping list, which is essentially everything at this point. There's a mini whiteboard on their fridge where they jot everything down, but it's chaotic as fuck because they never remember to update it, and Sehun admits it - his handwriting looks like chicken scratch sometimes. 

Most of the list are ingredients Jongin needed for previous recipes, and Sehun's contribution is mainly fruits and vegetables. He's been on a health kick lately, meaning he's excited to make smoothies the first couple of days after a grocery run and then... just kinda gets lazy about it the rest of the week and all the avocados go bad before he can use them.

The produce aisle's first. Sehun helps by pre-opening the plastic bags from the roll and holding them open for Jongin to bag the fruits and veggies they need that aren't already packaged. A lady passes by and gives them a smile, and Sehun is 90% sure she was checking out Jongin. He doesn't blame her, not when Jongin is in his jeans and a fitted black t-shirt, looking extra boyfriend material as the ladies say or whatever.

At the dairy aisle, deciding what milk they want to buy takes them close to ten minutes, which sets them way behind schedule. They were supposed to be in and out of this place in thirty minutes, what the fuck! They've both had to accept the science: lactose intolerance increases with age, plus the move away from dairy milk is supposed to be ethical, right? They do rock, paper, scissors to decide who has to choose what non-dairy option to buy. Jongin loses, and he picks some brand of oat milk they haven't tried yet.

"We still have so much on the list. I'm tired," Jongin whines.

"The air fryer needs you, Nini," Sehun gently reminds him.

Jongin gasps. "You're right," he says, getting a sudden burst of energy. He goes on ahead to the frozen section, while Sehun huffs a laugh.

At some point they just say fuck the list and get whatever they think they need from memory, and hope everything works out. Worst case scenario, they'll have to go on another grocery run later to get missing items. 

Later on they predictably get distracted by the snack and ramen aisles, spending way more time scouring their selections than necessary.

A text message notification makes Sehun check his phone, and he quietly gasps "holy fuck" into his palm when he happens to see the time instead.

"What?" Jongin asks curiously, wandering back to Sehun from the other end of the aisle. "Did your tweet go viral again?"

"No- well technically yes, but I mean dude - look at the time! We've been here over an hour. An hour!"

"What the- over an hour? Are you kidding me?"

"I'm dead serious. I can't believe this. Why does this always happen when we shop together?"

Jongin cracks up. "We're enabling each other too much!"

"We really are though. This is terrible. Okay seriously Jongin, we need to wrap this up ASAP. Maybe saying fuck the list wasn't the best idea. Do you need anything else?"

"Um, no, I think we were technically done... a half hour ago."

"Oh god."

Two people are blocking the aisle with their carts so they can't exit, so they go back out the other way and cut through the health and beauty aisle which is always empty.

It catches him off guard when Jongin stops to ask, "do you need to stock up?" when they're halfway down the aisle, and he's pointing to the condom section. By 'section' he actually only means like, three choices.

Sehun is so confused - he really can't tell if Jongin is joking or not. "Pfft. Like I've been getting any lately. You know that, dude."

"Just in case, you never know," Jongin laughs. "But nevermind, there's no XLs in stock here for you, so."

Sehun lets out a startled laugh. He can't decide if he's proud that Jongin is acknowledging his big dick, or completely turned on that Jongin is acknowledging his big dick. Truthfully it's both. It's not the first time his best friend ever mentioned it, but it's been a while, and never so directly. Jongin always manages to keep him on his toes, while Sehun is left wondering if he's imagining this weird tension between them.

There are only two lanes open when they go to check out, but since the other lane is packed, they queue up behind the same lady who was checking out Jongin earlier. The irony writes itself.

Completely oblivious, Jongin puts his hands on Sehun's hips as he squeezes by to get in front of the cart. Taking the heavier items out first, he loads what he can fit onto the conveyor belt, placing a divider between the lady's stuff and theirs.

The cashier is taking his sweet time scanning her items, so the lady uses this opportunity to start chatting Jongin up. Sehun saw this coming a mile away. He definitely called it.

Sehun busies himself by inspecting the candy selection at their check-out lane, while eavesdropping on their conversation at the same time. She's asking Jongin about one of the snacks Sehun picked out, these Lonely God chips he's been into lately, and Jongin is explaining how much Sehun loves them. Now she's laughing even though Jongin didn't even say anything funny.

Then the cashier finishes scanning everything so the lady (apparently her name is Mina, she and Jongin are on a first name basis now) stops to pay. When she gets her receipt and she's ready to leave, Sehun is sure she's about to slip Jongin her number, except that never happens.

Instead, she makes some weird comment about how Jongin and Sehun make a cute couple and hopes they both have a great day.

Well now Sehun just feels bad for thinking she was trying to get into Jongin's pants. Wait, she really thought they were a couple?

Mina leaves before either of them have a chance to correct her, and it's awkwardly silent between them while their groceries get scanned. 

From the corner of his eye, Sehun studies Jongin's expression. Mina's mistake seems to have really bothered him, and it's leaving a horrible, hollow feeling in Sehun's chest. Either Jongin really wanted her number and he's disappointed, or he's upset they got mistaken for a couple. Or both, which is definitely worse.

The awkward silence continues the entire ride home, until they get back to their apartment and begin unloading their grocery haul.

"That was um, weird back there," Jongin chuckles, bravely choosing to be the one to break the silence as he sticks the oat milk in the fridge.

"What, us getting mistaken for a couple?" Sehun asks rhetorically - he knows that's what Jongin meant.

"Yeah. I feel like that happens to us a lot."

"I guess," Sehun says, not sure what to say to that. "Does it bother you or something?"

"No? Of course not. I just didn't- I don't know if that kinda stuff bothered you because we never really talk about it."

"No, it doesn't bother me," he clarifies. It's relieving to know that Jongin isn't completely disgusted by the idea that other people think they could be dating, with how close they act and everything. 

"Okay, cool," Jongin says, looking relieved, too. "I love how things are between us. That we can be this close and not care what other people think, you know?"

"Yeah," Sehun quietly mumbles, and finds himself touching Jongin's hand without even thinking about it. Ugh, he's so touch starved it's embarrassing. Or it would be embarrassing, but Jongin holds his hand back and gives him a soft smile like it's the most natural thing in the world.

Sehun gulps and stares hard at the floor. It's taking everything in him not to kiss Jongin right now, but he won't. 

Like Jongin said, things are perfect between them just the way they are.


End file.
